Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter V: The Price of Heroism
Review and Media by Stu

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Episode #58 - Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter V: The Price of Heroism
Original Airdate - October 17th, 1997

The Red Skull's son Rhienholdt Kragov, is transformed into a super villain with the power to control electricity by the Doomsday Device. He names himself Electro and sets off to control all the world's electricity supply. Realizing the severity of the situation, Spider-Man along with Captain America and the Six Forgotten Warriors team up to contain the powerful new villain!

Credits:
Written By: John Semper
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
Animation Services By: Toyko Movie Shinsha (TMS)
Guest Starring: Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man, Earl Boen as The Red Skull, David Hyter as Captain America, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Doctor Octopus, Jim Cummings as The Shocker, Richard Moll as The Scorpion, Alan Johnson as The Vulture, Roy Dotrice as Keene Marlow and Mira Furlan as Silver Sable

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Review: Finally, we learn just this Doomsday Weapon actually is and, yeah, I thought it was pretty cool it turns out to be Electro. I've always had a soft spot for the loser but here ... man, this is nothing like the Electro I know. The guy I remember had a green costume with a yellow starfish mask and the power to control electricity. The similarities with the comics and this version end there! This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but some fans have difficulty believing that Electro in this canon is the son of The Red Skull, and I can't blame them.

Speaking of The Red Skull, it was damn confusing how quickly Electro turned on him. For someone who's spent 50 years searching for this father only to betray him in a matter of minutes was odd behaviour to say the least. It was almost laughable. It's quickly forgotten about and I think that's for the best. I did like that The Red Skull anticipated it though. That's the ruthless Nazi of the comics that I remember reading!

Electro as a God-type was more interesting that I originally thought it would be. I especially liked that he brought down S.H.I.E.L.D. It gave a villain who didn't really have a lot of time for development a powerful presence.

As greatly enjoyable as this episode was ... it's likely best remembered for having what could arguably be the laziest, stupidest moment in television ever. Yep, in this episode there are two scenes which play in the wrong order, which completely and utterly confuses the viewer and greatly diminishes the enjoyment of the episode. I'm prepared to accept (but not like, mind you) repeated animation, poor fights and hacked up dialogue, but there is simply no excuse for scenes playing in the wrong order. It's a joke. Even worse, no one even bothered to go back and correct it for future airings. If this episode ever does make it to DVD, let's hope they fix it.

I liked the ending, and I loved The Whizzer's "Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy" speech. I thought it perfectly summed the episode up.

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